A Look Back at My First Year in the Corporate World – Rewards & Challenges

I just got my annual letter of renewal from the MSU Alumni Association. Has it really been a year already?
If you're nearing graduation, as I was one year ago, you're probably both excited and a bit freaked out about leaving college and transitioning into the corporate world. There are certainly a number of challenges and rewards during this period (I have often referred to myself as a "transitional adult"). I thought I'd have a little fun by borrowing a "pain assessment chart" from the health care profession to illustrate the rewards and challenges from my own experiences in my first year out of school.
So here you have it, my year in review—from the most rewarding to the most challenging experiences. You may not see all of these factors in your own transition, but from conversations I've had throughout the year with friends in the same life-stage as myself, it sounds like a number of these factors and feelings are fairly common in the first "transitional" year.

meeting new people

sense of accomplishment

seeing my work make a difference

actually putting my education into practice

having supportive friends in the same life stage that I'm in

finding an apartment in a new city

choosing health insurance

learning about 401(k)s

learning corporate culture

money

balancing vacation days in a year

work/life balance

proving myself

looking for stability

stressful days at work

having friends who are still in college and just don't understand

keeping track of how I spend every minute of my time at work for my timesheet

3 Comments

Ryan Abbott

I think you covered the most common experiences, nice post.

I would like to add to your list by saying regardless of how amazing those positives are and crummy the negatives feel, you will NEVER look back on this year of transition as anything less than one of the most amazing journeys of your entire life. I think this blog all on its own is enough to prove this to all your readers!